CA: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read the essays? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? One key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write them?
JB: First of all, we are certainly looking to see if the person can communicate in the English language. We do have a fair number of international applicants, and we know what country the person comes from when we review the file. While we are mindful that most of those candidates are writing in their second and sometimes third language, we nonetheless have fairly high expectations that they will be able to convey their thoughts in a clear way in English. We also want the essays to be free of typos, and we want the syntax to be good.
Sometimes essays can be a little too cutesy, or they’ll lead with quotes. Generally speaking I don’t think that’s a good idea. Sometimes people will take creativity to the extreme—it’s very difficult for candidates to really pull off some creative way to answer an essay question other than just answering the essay question. For instance, sometimes we’ll see people do a Q&A where they pretend to be both the applicant and the admissions director, so essentially they submit a script. That is just not a good idea. Or they’ll use way too many adjectives, or they’ll submit a stream of consciousness kind of thing. This is also not a good idea.
We put a great deal of thought into our essays. The truth of the matter is this is what we want to know. Now other schools are going all sorts of unique ways—asking for PowerPoint, video, You Tube submissions. But I feel like we can get at these unique things about you in other ways, and particularly in the interview. There is a lot of consistency in our interview evaluations because of the skill of the interviewers on my team and because it is such a small group.
So, for the essay, here’s my advice: 1. Answer the question 2. Do so in as straightforward a way as possible in the English language having things flow together as part of a well-thought-out plan. If there is any creativity to be had, then it would be in the fun fact. If you want to try something a little different, this is a place where you can express a little more creativity. People have done all sorts of things that have worked well here.
In terms of common mistakes in the essays, the first would be that it’s not particularly well written—it’s rough, it doesn’t flow together as easily as it should. Our essays are pretty short so I think people should able to submit something that is polished.
We also see typos, or an applicant has cut and pasted from another school’s application and forgotten to change the school name. It happens at all schools, but it is just sloppy. I am probably not going to deny someone on that alone if everything else is okay, but it’s certainly going to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
In terms of your answers, be as specific as you can but still show that you are flexible. For instance, you might say that you are interested in moving, post-MBA, into a brand management role with a CPG firm like Coke, Frito Lay, Loreal or Tropicana. This shows that you know what you want but you remain flexible—it doesn’t have to be food services, you are open to different locations or different companies. We like to see that our candidates are flexible.
For the essay that introduces Mr. Goizueta and asks for an example of leadership, I do expect that applicants will have read a little about him, accessed the video about him. The video is really wonderful, and Mr. Goizueta also has a Wikipedia page. But that is plenty. Anyone who has read or seen that much, I am confident, will understand what we mean about being a leader in their community and making a difference. Think about it—this Cuban immigrant came to America and all he had was a job at Coca-Cola and a suitcase. Look at what he did.
Barefoot actually broke down the essay questions one by one in a recent blog post, giving her no-nonsense take on the best way for applicants to approach each one. If you are applying to Goizueta, you need to read this before starting your essays.
